BayTrust grant to help boost DIY skills

He Iwi Kāinga technical building assessor Aaron Te Huia checks maintenance issues on a home in the Taupō District. Photo / Supplied

Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust’s housing kaupapa, He Iwi Kāinga, has been given a $320,000 boost from BayTrust to help improve people’s home maintenance skills.

Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust general manager Sean te Heuheu said they wanted to raise the standard of living.

“Workshops will allow us as an iwi entity to provide a safe environment to explore different topics, complete hands-on training and practical applications. By offering a series of workshops that build on one another we can address the common themes seen within many homes and instead empower the whānau to bring homes up to a quality standard in a more cost-effective way.

“We want to teach people how to clear their gutters, how to check screws and nails are sitting flush on roofs, how to check chimneys are safe and clean to use, how to carry out window repairs and maintenance, and how to ventilate homes properly so they don’t become damp and mouldy.”

Once people know what to do, they would also be supplied with the basic equipment they needed to do the job.

The grant would also pay for a senior kāinga coach to support the trust’s affordable rental tenants and provide them with the skills and encouragement they needed to pursue their housing “aspirations” and better understand what it took to be a good tenant, and ultimately a good homeowner.

Te Heuheu said the funding was “hugely helpful” and BayTrust had been an avid supporter of He Iwi Kāinga since its inception in 2019.

There were multiple initiatives under the He Iwi Kāinga housing strategy including a Whare Ora Assessment that assessed the condition of whānau homes and highlighted issues like leaking roofs, damaged or blocked gutters, deteriorating window frames, inadequate heating and inadequate insulation.

Over 100 assessments have already been carried out and the waiting list was still growing.

BayTrust’s grant would be used to continue those assessments and run workshops to teach people how to carry out basic home maintenance to reduce the number of repairs that were required long-term.

BayTrust’s funding would also cover other resources like smoke alarms and thermometers to keep track of humidity levels inside a home.

There were also funds to support the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme which aimed to improve insulation and heating in homes. BayTrust funding would go towards supporting whānau to come up with their 20 per cent contribution to the cost.

Tradespeople such as roofers, electricians or plumbers would need to be engaged to fix some of the problems that have been found.

Te Heuheu said they were hoping to source further support to carry out bulk repairs in an affordable manner.

Taupō-based BayTrust trustee, Judy Harris, said healthy, secure and affordable housing was a key funding priority.

“We believe everybody in the Bay of Plenty should be housed in suitable, adequate and affordable accommodation that fits their whānau and cultural requirements. We support programmes that take a community approach to address sub-standard housing and the impact of a lack of affordable housing.”

The new home maintenance workshops would benefit hundreds of Taupō and Tūrangi families who were Tūwharetoa descendants and help make homes warmer, dryer and safer for generations.

The grant comes from BayTrust’s strategic partnership fund and would be split over two years.